February 05, 2010

In Ilkley, of course, though with a hat (for those of you who know the song) and not on the moor, but on the high street. I called into Betty's Tea Rooms for some lunch on my way from Kirkby Lonsdale to York. KL was just an overnight stop, so I could do some Bronte-related research in nearby Cowan Bridge and Tunstall. It's a beautiful place. I arrived late in the afternoon yesterday, with just an hour of daylight left; this morning, I went for a walk down to Devil's Bridge before driving away. That's why the light is so much darker in the first few pictures here.

It's years since I've been in KL, and it hasn't grown monstrously (like Keighley or Skipton). It's still a rugged, historic little market town with WI events at the hall, disaffected youths loitering in the square, waitresses smoking in doorways, medieval pubs, snow high up on the fells, words of Norse origin, and everyone out walking their dogs.

Now it's Friday night, and I've been out for a ghost tour. I lived in York for three years, and never once went on a ghost tour. Why was I such a slacker?